Insurer Old Mutual on Friday announced that it will proceed with its offer for Swedish group Skandia.
Earlier on Friday, the board of Skandia said the offer by Old Mutual is “not attractive” for Skandia’s shareholders.
Old Mutual said it remains of the view that, in a consolidating financial-services market, the industrial logic of combining the two groups is compelling, providing prospects of enhanced growth with reduced risk for all shareholders.
Old Mutual added that it welcomes the publication of the independent fairness opinion by banking group ABN Amro, commissioned by Scandia’s board in relation to the offer, which concluded that Old Mutual’s offer is fair from a financial point of view.
Old Mutual said it is pleased that the board of Skandia has undertaken to cooperate in the preparation of the regulatory filings and the prospectus, which will contain full details of the offer and be published in mid-October.
“We have met with holders of more than 60% of Scandia’s shares in recent weeks and received positive indications on the merits of our proposal from a vast majority of them,” Old Mutual CEO Jim Sutcliffe said. — I-Net Bridge